Patents by Inventor Bruce H. Bale

Bruce H. Bale has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9358850
    Abstract: A security device for a coupler for a trailer includes a bracket, a clamp lever cover, and a cover lock. The bracket is connected to the coupler, which includes a socket, a ball clamp, and a clamp lever. The clamp lever cover is engaged with the bracket and, in a secured arrangement, prevents movement of the clamp lever, thereby holding the ball clamp in a clamped arrangement, in turn retaining a hitch ball within the socket or preventing insertion of a hitch ball into the socket; in an unsecured arrangement the cover permits movement of the clamp lever from the engaged structural arrangement to the disengaged structural arrangement, thereby releasing the hitch ball or permitting insertion of a hitch ball. When unlocked the cover lock permits movement of the clamp lever cover to the unsecured arrangement; when locked retains the clamp lever cover in the secured arrangement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2016
    Inventor: Bruce H. Bale
  • Patent number: 8556288
    Abstract: A lockbox for a coupler of a trailer comprises a bottom assembly, a top cover, and a locking mechanism. The bottom assembly includes a post mounted on a bottom panel within an interior volume defined by bottom, front, and side panels. That post is received into a socket of the coupler with the coupler received into the interior volume through an open back area. The top cover engages the bottom assembly to cover an open top area above the post; the engaged top cover prevents removal of the coupler from the post. When locked, the locking mechanism retains the top cover engaged with the bottom assembly; when unlocked, the locking mechanism enables disengagement of the top cover and removal of the coupler. The bottom assembly includes a rigid tubular member around a lower portion of the post that is rotatable around the post and obstructs access to the post.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2013
    Inventor: Bruce H. Bale
  • Patent number: 6406052
    Abstract: A secure trailer hitching post comprises: a) a body having an open top and a front opening and being adapted to be secured to a surrounding structure; b) a hitch ball assembly comprising a hitch ball plate positioned within and secured to the body and dividing the interior thereof into upper and lower portions, and a hitch ball; and c) a retainer assembly comprising a flat retainer plate and an apertured vertically depending tab received within a slot in the lower portion of the interior of the body. A sliding retaining shaft is positioned within apertures in the front of the body and the front of the slot, so that the retaining shaft may slide inward into the slot and through an aperture of the tab of the retainer assembly, thereby securing the tab within the slot and thereby securing the retainer assembly to the body. A coupler of a trailer is placed on the hitch ball and the retainer assembly placed within the top of the body with the tab received within the slot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2002
    Inventor: Bruce H. Bale
  • Patent number: D743307
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2015
    Inventor: Bruce H. Bale